Michael Fanuele ’94: A Marketing Marvel Looks Back

The second thing you should know about Michael Fanuele is that he firmly believes that winning an argument is a virtually useless skill. In fact, he says his success in the advertising business is predicated on developing campaigns that tickle one’s emotions, not their intellect. “I’ve sometimes suffered from intellectual arrogance,” he said during a recent visit to Vassar’s campus, where he mentored students seeking advice on their career paths. “I’ve learned it’s not as important to be right as it is to generate a love and passion in your audience, emotions that actually move people.”

Fanuele, currently Chief Brand Officer for Shake Shack, certainly applied this formula to what may have been the first meme in popular culture, an ad campaign launched 20 years ago for Dos Equis beer featuring “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” who didn’t always drink beer, but when he did, preferred Dos Equis. The ads never tried to tell consumers what was so good about the beer. Rather, the campaign used humor and wordplay to keep the consumer interested. To wit:

• He once cheated death, and death didn’t mind.
• He has won the lifetime achievement award…twice.
• Sharks have a week dedicated to him.
• Once, a rattlesnake bit him. After five days of excruciating pain, the snake finally died.

Fanuele is also famous in the field for his work with Arby’s. “We Have The Meats” is another campaign that does not attempt to explain why Arby’s has great food, but rather instills a gut emotion in potential consumers of Arby’s products with a strong but simple declarative sentence that is easy to digest. As with Dos Equis, Arby’s is recognized as one of the great marketing success stories of the century.

While Fanuele has become a bit of a legend in the advertising world, his initial path at Vassar had nothing to do with marketing. He thought he’d major in political science or philosophy, but after a couple of classes with Professors Susan Zlotnick and Anthony Wohl, he quickly switched to Victorian studies. “I almost didn’t care what they were teaching, but I knew I wanted to study with these professors who were so passionate, smart, and kind.” It was an early lesson in the infectious power of passion, but as Fanuele explained, “A cross-disciplinary approach to the world has been a massive benefit to my career. You can’t understand Dickens without understanding the Industrial Revolution, just like you can’t understand TikTok or K-Pop without understanding the shifting power dynamics of our world. It’s all connected—so thank you, Victorian studies!”

But Fanuele also maintained an interest in politics, and his first job took him to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a congressional aide. Less than two years later, Fanuele had soured on the world of politics. He left Washington and moved to New York City to be closer to his two best friends from Vassar, Eddie Gamarra ’94 and Damon Ross ’94, both of whom had jobs in the entertainment industry. Within a month, Fanuele landed a job with an advertising agency with the whimsical handle, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. “I fell in love with the advertising business,” he said. “Unlike politics, it didn’t involve punching anyone in the eye. Politics is all about winning and losing; advertising is about collaboration.”

Fanuele's first success was an ad campaign for a fledgling Belgian brewery called Blue Moon. Since then, he has become an author. His book Stop Making Sense, in which he put forth his ideas on marketing, leadership, and life in general, is an Amazon bestseller in its third printing. His writing on inspiration and leadership has been featured in The Harvard Business Review and Ad Age. And he boasts that his TEDx talk on inspiration “has been watched by people who are not even related to me.”

Most personally, Fanuele shared an essay about discovering his birth parents and learning the secrets of his adopted family this past December. Published by The Free Press, it was the most-read article on Substack for a weekend. He’s currently working on a book-length version of the twisty tale.

Fanuele spends some of his time mentoring Vassar students and young alums. “One of my first hires, Graham Phillips ’98, has gone on to a storied career as a marketing leader,” he notes, adding that “today’s students are much more media savvy than I was when I started in the business, and there are so many platforms available to them.” He acknowledges that the emergence of artificial intelligence has some “scary” components. “Coke and McDonald’s have both aired ads created entirely by AI,” he said. “But AI presents some opportunities, too. I use it to start a project, not to finish it.”

Fanuele says he always enjoys talking to young people about the world of advertising. “I’m always open to chats with my Vassar peeps,” he said.

Fanuele’s advice to those wishing to break into the business: “Keep your expenses as low as possible for as long as possible; doing so allows you to flit and fly and experiment and explore. Work on your handshake. Oh, and stop worrying about being right.”